Estimate Your EITC with the Official IRS Assistant

Get ready here, then calculate an estimated Earned Income Tax Credit on the IRS website. This guide does not calculate an amount or submit a return. The IRS Assistant checks your answers and estimates the credit for a supported tax year.

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1. Choose the tax year before entering income

A 2025 return filed in 2026 uses 2025 income and rules. Tax year 2026 is normally filed in 2027. At our September 8, 2026 review, the IRS Assistant offered 2025, 2024 and 2023. It did not offer 2026. If your year is unavailable, use that year’s official return instructions or a preparer; do not select 2025 to estimate 2026.

Sources: How the official Assistant works · Assistant year selection.

2. Prepare the numbers the IRS needs

• Annual earned income: collect W-2s and records of work or self-employment. Do not substitute one month’s take-home pay.
• Adjusted gross income (AGI): use the tax-year amount calculated for the return. Keep it separate from wages; other income and adjustments can make them different.
• Investment income: gather interest, dividends and other amounts covered by the IRS limit. Unemployment benefits and Social Security benefits are not earned income for EITC.
• Household facts: filing status, dates children lived with you, their relationship, ages and student/disability information when relevant. Check the required SSNs privately; do not enter them on this site.

For self-employment, gross sales are not the same as net earnings. Gather income and business-expense records and follow the EITC worksheet for your situation. Combat pay, certain Medicaid waiver payments, clergy income and foreign-income issues need their special rules; do not force them into a simple wages-only estimate.

Sources: IRS: earned income and excluded income · Publication 596: income worksheets.

3. Get the estimate on the IRS website

1. Open the Assistant and select the year. Use the official link below and confirm the year on its first screen.
2. Answer the eligibility questions. Work through filing status, AGI and qualifying children using the records you gathered. If you are unsure, use the IRS explanation or ask a preparer.
3. Review the result and assumptions. Write down the tax year, inputs and estimated credit privately. An estimated credit is not an approved refund.
4. File to claim it. The Assistant does not file your tax return. Use the correct-year Form 1040 or 1040-SR and Schedule EIC when required.

Estimate EITC on IRS.gov

You will leave GetBenefits. The IRS says its Assistant does not request your name, SSN, address or bank-account numbers, and does not save or record the answers entered there. Its calculation is based on the answers you supply.

Sources: IRS Assistant purpose, preparation and privacy · How to claim EITC.

Check these cases before choosing a child count

• With qualifying children: EITC generally covers children under 19, or full-time students for at least five months who are under 24, and younger than you or your joint-filing spouse. Permanent and total disability can meet the age test at any age. Relationship, living together in the U.S. for more than half the year, joint-return and competing-claim rules also matter.
• Without a qualifying child: generally you or your joint-filing spouse must be at least 25 and under 65 at year-end. You must also have lived in the U.S. for more than half the year and not be another person’s dependent or qualifying child.
• Separated spouses: married filing separately is not automatically eligible. The special rule requires a qualifying child living with you for more than half the year plus specified separation/living-apart conditions.
• Identification and tax residence: you, your joint-filing spouse and children counted for EITC need the required work-valid SSNs issued by the return due date, including extensions. ITINs do not replace these. Generally you must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year; an election exception exists for certain joint filers. Filing Form 2555 prevents EITC.

Sources: IRS qualifying-child tests · IRS basic, SSN and separated-spouse rules · Publication 596: no-child and special rules.

If a child meets the qualifying-child tests but lacks the required SSN, you may still qualify for a self-only EITC. Publication 596 says to attach Schedule EIC even in that situation; ask a preparer how to report the child correctly.

2025 reference: a limit is not an estimate

Use this table for 2025 income normally reported in 2026. Both earned income and AGI must be below the applicable cutoff. Investment income must be $11,950 or less. Being below a cutoff does not by itself establish eligibility or award the maximum.

The other-status column includes separated married filers only when the special EITC rules are met.

Sources: IRS 2025 EITC tables.

2026 planning reference, separate from the Assistant

For 2026 income normally reported in 2027, the IRS has published the following completed phase-out amounts. At or above the cutoff, no EITC is allowed. Investment income above $12,200 prevents the credit. These figures do not mean the Assistant already calculates 2026.

Sources: Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.06.

One verified table example

For tax year 2025, assume an eligible single filer with one qualifying child, $15,000 of wages, $15,000 AGI, no investment income and all other EITC tests met. The Publication 596 table row “at least $15,000 but less than $15,050” gives $4,328 for one qualifying child. This is a table lookup, not an estimate generated by this website.

That does not make $4,328 the credit for everyone with one child. A different income amount, AGI, filing status or child determination can change it. The complete tax return may also have a different total refund.

Sources: 2025 Publication 596: EIC table, $15,000–$15,050 row.

Use the result to take one next step

If the inputs look right, choose a filing or free-preparation option. If the result is unexpected, check the year, annual income and child tests before changing answers. Keep a note of the uncertain item for a preparer. You may separately qualify for CTC or ACTC; its rules and identification requirements differ.

Common questions

Sources: IRS Assistant · Income and 2025 tables · Published 2026 references.

Editorial review: September 8, 2026. This guide separates published rules by tax year; use the final forms for the year you are filing. It does not calculate or file your return.